Joint



July 22, 1947. M. P. GRAHAM Er Al.

JOINT `F'Jlled Oct. 16. 1944 Patented Julyf22, 194'(` uNlrslJ-N STATES N PATENT orar-flics N 1 I e i t 2324355 l Jom'i:

Matthew r. Graham aannames n. Booth, Detroit,

Mich., assignors` to Thompson Products, Inc., l

Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Appucatmnoctober 13,1944, sensi No. 55u33 schim. '(ci. asi-9o) This invention relates to joints withiinexpensive insert assemblies and housings.'

Speciiically the invention deals with a tie: rod joint including an eye-ended tie rod endcarrying,

in the eye end thereof; a replaceable insert assembly composed'of a sheet metal casing, 'rubber bushings, and a studmember. The invention will be hereinafter speciiically described as embodied in a tie rodjoint', but itl" ventional tie rod joint includesa closure plug for the socket whichmust bebodily removed to give access to the joint parts,` and ifany of the joint l parts become wornor broken, the sockethasto be either internally threaded to permit removal of A the plug, or spunto hold the plug. l A vthreaded socket, of course, is very expensive, and the spun socket would be damaged, probably beyond use, when the plug was removed.`

According to the present invention, a housing or socket carries aninsert vunit composedof a casing, bushings, bearing members, and stud. `'Ihis insert unit is readily inserted in the' eye end of can `be repeatedly usedwitha series of insert units, and thereby ontlast a number of.` such units.

Another feature of the invention resides in utilizing an iiiexpensive eye-ended stemmed member as` a, tie `rodhousing or socket thereby avoiding expensive `forging andfinishing operations heretofore required. l

An object of the inventionis to provide inexpensivejoints `with housingsdirectly receiving in sert units containing the joint parts.

A further object of the invention is to decrease `iinotherobject ofthe invention is. to provide ball and socket joints including sockets receivabito be readily inserted in a tie rodhousing.

` A specific objejct of theinvention is to provide a joint assembly including an inexpensive casing having an outturned iiange and a spun-inplug seated on the,` internal shoulder provided bythe iiange,` together with al housing having an interan inexpensively formed socket or housing. The I casing of the insert unit `is provided with an outturned peripheral flange which seats on a shoul-` der in the eye end'oi!` the socket or housing, and the socket or housing is crimped over theend of nalshoulder bottoming the outturned iiange to retain the casing in ahousing.

Other and `further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the annexed sheet of drawings which, by way of preferred example only, illustrates one embodiment ofthe in..

the casing at several 'places to clamp the casing in the eyeend of the socket or housing. When any of the joint parts become worn,'the crimped parts of the socket or housing are bent back, chiseled oil', or ground off and the entire insert unit is bodily removed from` the socket or housing` to bev vention.V

On the drawings: l Figure 1 is a side elevational view, with parts in vertical cross section, of a ball and socket tie rod joint according to this invention.

held in position by crimping other parts of the socket or housing over the end oi thenew casing.

'Ihe casing is inexpensively made of sheet metal. An inexpensive sheet metal disk isspun into the casing to hold` the joint parts therein. The assembly enclosed by the thus plugged casing is a unit that can be sold as suchfor replacement of similar units in sockets or housings which are not subjected to wear. Such relatively wear-free sockets or housings have a much longer life than the heretofore-used bearingtype socket.

A featureof this inventiontherefore, is the `pro vision of a joint assembly including a housing that `casing for the joints oi this invention.

Figure 5 is an exploded vertical cross-sectional Figure 2 is a fragmentary bottom plan viewof the joint of Figure 1.

VFigure 3 is a sideelevational view of a sheet of metal from which the casing for the joint of this invention can be made, and illustrating, in dotted lines, the manner in which the sheet of metal is stamped to provide the casing.`

Figure 4 isa vertical cross-sectional view of the view, with parts in "side elevation, `of the housing,

casing, bushings and casing closure plug for the- Irim wall peripheral margin portion of the closure disk the end of a tie rod, and an eye end IIIb. The eye end Ib has a straight cylindrical bore Iilc therethrough which is countersunk at one end to provide an enlarged cylindrical bore Id terminating in a shoulder IDe inwardly from the countersunk end.

The housing I is inexpensive to manufacture, since it can be formed by a simple forging process and then' need only be roughly internally broached to provide the bore I0c and a counterbore Iild.

The eye end of the housing receives an insert unit Il composed of a casing I2, a pair of rubber rings I3 carrying hemispherical socket liners I4, a ball stud I5 with aballend I5a riding on the liners I4, and a closure plug lholding the bushing `rings I3 in the casing.

Thecasing I2 of the insert unit Il, as shown in Figure 3, is readily stamped from a sheet of metal Il to provide a cup as shown in dotted lines. formed from the cup of Figure 3 and has a cylindrical side Wall |2a with an outturned flange I2b near the open end thereof and a rim wall I2c extending from the flange IZU to .the open end.

The casing has an end wall I2@ with an aperture I2e therethrough. The aperture I2e is formed by a punching operation simultaneously with the -stamping or drawing operation.

The resulting casing I2 hasan internal shoulder 12)* between the side wall |241, andrim wall I2c.

The side wall I2a of the casing I2, vas best shown in'Figure 5, has an outside diameter for snugly fitting the bore I0c of ,the housing l0 and the rim Wall I2c has a diameter for snugly/ fitting the counterbore IiId of the housing. The shoulder Ille of the housing bottoms the flange I2b of the casing as shown in Figurel.

As lshown in Figure 5, the bushing rings I3 have cylindrical outer walls I3a snugly tting in the side'wall IZa of the casing I2. These bushing rings are formed of rubber or other resiliently deformable material, such as synthetic plastics or impregnated canvas. A phenolic resin can be used to provide a good wearable bearing surface for the ball end I5a of the stud.

The two rings I3 Acooperate to provide a ball socket, and the end faces I3c ofthe rings are abutted together.l The end face I3e of one ring is bottomed on the end wall I2d of the casing and the aperture I3d in this ring is somewhat smaller than the aperture I2e of the casing, n sothat the stud neck I5b can project freely through both apertures. l

The end face |3e of the other ring I3 receives the closure disk I6 thereagainst. This disk I6 preferably has a depressed central portion I6a that is spaced from the ball end I5a and the liner I4 for the ring I3. The disk I6 is bottomed on the internal shoulder I2f of the casing, and the |2c of the casingy is spun over the I6 as at I2g to clamp the disk between the shoulder I2! and the spun-over portion I2g.

In order to hold the insert unit II in the housing lthe flange I2b of the casing I2 is forced against the shoulder IUe of the housing by The casing I2, as shown in Figure 4, isv

'I'he portions I0! are spaced around the periphery of the housing I0 and are readily bent inwardly by a hammer or a punch from the rim end of the housing skirt portion containing the counterbore IOd. While` four portions I0f are illustrated, two or three portions could be used. When it is desired to replace the insert unit II with a new unit, the crimped portions I0f are chiseled or ground off, or are merely bent back to clear the casing rim I2c. The end wall |211 of the casing is then merely tapped to drop the entire unit outoi the housing. The new unit II is inserted in the housing, and several additional portions of the counterbored part of the housing are crimped over the new unit to lock it in place.

The rubber rings I3 are preferably somewhat loaded by the casing vI2 so that the liners I4 will have good bearing contact with the ball end I5a of the stud and, as wear occurs, the loaded rubber will continue to'urge the liners into good bearing relationship with the ball end. The closure disk I6 for the casing therefore preferably holds the rubber rings in the casing with a compressive force.

The liners I4 are preferably vulcanized to the rubber rings.

As is customary in ball and socket joints, the ball end I5a ofthe stud I5 rocks and rotates in the liners I4.

From the above descriptions it will be understood that the invention now provides a tie rod jointV with an inexpensive eye-ended socket or housing capable of receiving a series of insert units. These insert units are composed of inexpensive casings containing the joint parts, which preferablyinclude rubber bushing rings, socketdefining liners for these bushing rings, and the head end of a stud.

It will, of course, Vbe understood that various details of construction maybe varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. A joint comprising an open-ended housing having an internal shoulder, an insert unit in said housing having an outturned portion bottomed on said shoulder, .said housing having crimped portions overlying the insert unit to clamp the outturned portion of the unit on said shoulder, and said crimped portions alternating with uncrimped portions of the Ahousing adapted to be crimped for clamping other inserts in the housing.

' to secure the casing in the housing, a joint stud in said casing havinga shank projecting freely through an end wall of the casing opposite the closure part for thevcasing, and bearing wall defining means in said casing for said stud.

3. A joint construction comprising an openended housing, an insert unit for said housing composed of a casing, bearing members, and a stud member, said casing having an outturned portion, and localized deformed\parts on said housing thrusting against the casing to clamp the outturned portion of the casing against the housing.

4. A tie rod end comprising a housing having an eye end and a stem projecting therefrom, said eye end having an internal shoulder and a deformable skirt portion depending therefroman insert unit for said housing having a casing adapted toiit into the eye end of the housing and equipped with an outturned portion for seating on said shoulder, and said deformable skirt of the housing being locally deformed to overlie the casing for clamping the outturned portion thereof against said shoulder.

5. A jointconstruction comprising a ball stud,

rubber ringssurrounding .the ball end of the stud,'

liners carried by said rings providing bearing walls for said ball end ofithe stud, a casing receiving said rubber rings and -having an apertured end wall bottorning one of the rings, a closure part for said casing thrusting against the other of said rings to provide an insert unit assembly..

tured end ,wall receiving said stud shank freely through the aperture thereof and'bottoming one of said rings, said casing having an outturned flange adjacent the other end thereof and a rim portion extending from said flange, a closure disk in said rim portion of the casing bottomed on the shoulder provided by said out-,turned flange, said rim portion of the casing being spun over the peripheral margin of said disk to thrust the' disk against the adjacent rubber ring and hold it between the shoulder provided by .the outturned flange and the spun-over portion, and a housing having a stem for attachment to a tie rod and with an eye end thereon receiving said casing therethrough and having an internal shoulder bottoming said outturned iiange oi the casing, said eye end of the housing having a deformable skirt portion adjacent said internal shoulder thereof, and localized crimped portions on said skirt overlying the spun portion of the casing to lock the casing against the shoulder of the housing. i

7. An insert unit for tie rod joint housings and the like comprising a metal cup casing having an apertured end wall at one end thereof and an enlarged rim portion at the other end thereof cooperating with a side Wall portion to provide internal and external shoulders, a stud having a shank projecting freely through the l aperture of s aid end wall and a head seated in said casing, bearing members in said casing surrounding the head of the stud, a closure disk for said casing in said rim portion thereof bottomed on said internal shoulder, said rim portion of the casing being deformed over said closure disk to clamp the disk against said internal shoulder, and said external shoulder of the casing adapted to bottom the assembly in a housing. 8. A joint comprising an open ended housing with an internal shoulder and a deformable skirt portion. and a self-contained insert unit in said housing, said unit including a headed stud, bearing members for the stud head, a casing surrounding the bearing members and head of the 3 stud, and a. closure member secured to said casing for sealing the bearing members in the casing, and said skirt portion of the housing being deformed against the casing to clamp the casing in the housing against 'the internal shoulder thereof.

| MATTHEW P. GRAHAM.

JAMES H. BOOTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

